Gradius II [PSP/Arcade] - First Loop No Miss 430,300 pts
Gradius II is the sequel to the original Gradius and a horizontal shoot em up developed by Konami and released in 1988 in arcades. Outside of Japan, the game was released under the name Vulcan Venture. The game would get ported over to the Famicom and then the PC Engine CD, with the PC Engine CD version getting some extra content. It would later be included in various collections such as the Gradius Deluxe Pack for PS1 and Saturn as well as Gradius Collection aka Gradius Portable on PSP, which is how I did this run.
Gradius II is extremely important to the series because it established many traditions of the series going forward. One, it introduced multiple ship layouts, which different types of weapons and missiles. The ripple laser is introduced here for example. You even get a new type of shield with the force field. Two, it introduced the option hunter, which appears to steal your options once you have four of them but cannot harm the player's ship. I stick to three options in order to avoid spawning it.
The level design also established some tropes that would carry over to later Gradius games. It introduced the Speed Stage, which in this game is Stage 6. This stage scrolls really fast and you have to pass through gates before they close on you, and the stage itself is a bit of a maze on top of that. It also introduced the Boss Rush, which is Stage 7. In this game, the boss rush is mostly Gradius I and Salamander bosses, while the last boss of that stage is a new boss that would later be featured again in Gradius III.
Speaking of level design, this game is a major improvement over its predecessors. Every stage has its own boss fight, which alone is an improvement. Plus, every stage has some unique set-pieces like the fire theme of the first stage and ice themed third stage with the icy crystals that break up as you shoot them. Some stages even have mini-bosses, like Stage 5 and Stage 8. There is a lot more variety here than before. The game does not just depend on Duckers to mess with you.
However, some things do stay the same as before. The Moai heads make a comeback in Stage 5. Quite a few of the same air and ground enemies from the original are still around, like the Duckers. You still get a chance at the beginning of stages to power up a bit. The last boss is still a non-threat just like before. The biggest thing that remains has to be the Gradius syndrome. In fact, in some ways, it is even worse than in the original. There are some checkpoints, like in the second half of Stage 3, that are almost impossible for recovery.
Despite the Gradius syndrome and unfair checkpoints at times, this game is still an excellent improvement over the original game.
Played in standalone PPSSPP.
0:00 Intro
0:21 Stage 1-1
2:58 Stage 1-2
5:49 Stage 1-3
9:00 Stage 1-4
11:48 Stage 1-5
16:31 Stage 1-6
18:12 Stage 1-7
23:51 Stage 1-8
29:59 Ending
30:53 Stage 2-1